IPOB Member Jailed for 20 Years After Pleading Guilty

The Federal High Court in Abuja sentenced 48-year-old Paul Okechukwu to 20 years in prison for belonging to IPOB, a proscribed organisation in Nigeria. Okechukwu, from Nnewi South in Anambra State, pleaded guilty to the charge of belonging to the group in Imo State in 2021. The government withdrew a second charge alleging that he took part in an attack that killed two security operatives. Justice Hawa Yilwa ordered that the sentence run from the date of his arrest and that he be rehabilitated and deradicalised after completing it.